


be my baby

by beesandlebrunes



Series: markhyuck x songs by women [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Slow Dancing, like .. barely, other dreamies are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 12:51:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15073535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beesandlebrunes/pseuds/beesandlebrunes
Summary: Donghyuck hadn't seen Mark out of school in 11 days. (He counted.)—alternatively titled: will you still love me tomorrow?





	be my baby

**Author's Note:**

> i realized i have a lot of markhyuck fic ideas that were inspired by various songs by women so... lets go
> 
> this part is inspired by be my baby by the ronettes and will you still love me tomorrow by the shirelles !

Donghyuck hadn’t seen Mark out of school in 11 days. (He counted.)

It was April of Donghyuck’s junior year, which meant one thing: national testing. And unlike Renjen and Jeno, Donghyuck hadn’t begun SAT prep eight whole months before the actual test. He’d spent the last month before the day of the test either in the school library or hunched over his desk late into the night. Sometimes Mark would be there with him, but as it grew closer to Mark’s graduation, Donghyuck’s boyfriend became busy with his own academics.

So, outside of school, where Donghyuck could see Mark before first period and during hall passing (but not lunch, because Donghyuck had Lunch A while Mark had Lunch B), Donghyuck and Mark hadn’t spent any time together. The distance was starting to take its toll on Donghyuck, who was used to having Mark’s affection on tap.

He stared down at his “Official SAT Workbook,” reading the same trig problem over and over again until he decided he didn’t have it in his mind to solve it. He twirled the ring around his middle finger, a silver band with the words “Full sun” engraved on the inside, matching the one on Mark’s. Renjun, Jisung, and Chenle hadn’t let him hear the end of it when he showed up to lunch period with Mark’s ring on his finger. At least, not until Renjun received an honest-to-god velvet choker with Jaemin’s name across the front in fake diamonds.

(When Mark and Jeno saw it the night they all stayed over Jeno’s, Mark had nudged Donghyuck and whispered, breath hot on Donghyuck’s ear, “You think you’d like wearing my name on your neck, too?”)

Downstairs, the front door slammed, which meant his mom was home from her date. He waited a few more seconds, then came multiple sets of footsteps up the stairs, accented by his mother’s laughter. Donghyuck sighed, already pushing his study materials off his desk and into his bag. He pushed open his window, which was blissfully silent ever since Mark and Renjun lubed it for him (for Mark). Seconds later, he dropped to the grass with a small _oof_.

Mark’s contact photo in his phone brought a smile to his face. Donghyuck had taken it on Christmas Eve Eve, the day their friend group celebrated Christmas, while Mark laughed at some dumb joke Jeno had made seconds before. It was one of the rare occasions in which Donghyuck got to see Mark laugh like that, unabashed, no covering his face or stifling it in his sleeve.

“Hyuck?” came Mark’s tired voice.

Donghyuck kept his voice low. “Did I wake you up?”

“Nah, I’ve been up. Calc.”

In Donghyuck’s head, he could see Mark curled up in his bowl chair, scribbling away in his notebook — dark blue for math — with his semi-circle eyebrows furrowed. “Ah, my hardworking U of M boy.”

Mark laughed, warm and soft around the edges. “Yeah.”

They stayed quiet for a minute, then Donghyuck remembered why he called. “I’ve been sexiled by my mother, but I don’t want to bother you, so I’ll go to Jen’s or something.”

“What?” Mark actually sounded offended. “No. I haven’t seen you in, like, forever. I’m coming to pick you up.”

“I don’t want to distract you from your homework.”

“You’re the one taking the SAT in two days, not me. My grades don’t even matter anymore. I’m gonna get my diploma no matter what.”

The corner of Donghyuck’s mouth quirked up. Mark Lee was the only kid who could work his ass off to secure his spot as valedictorian then promptly say, _fuck school_. “Okay, okay, geez. If you wanna see me that bad, then just say so.”

“Donghyuck, I want to see you. So bad.”

A laugh caught in Donghyuck’s throat as his face went hot and came out shakily. “Well, if you insist.”

“I’m putting my pants on. I’ll be there soon.”

“Wait, Mark.”

“Yeah?”

Donghyuck chewed the dry skin on his bottom lip. “Stay on the line with me?”

There was a beat of silence, then, “Of course.”

Donghyuck sat at the end of his driveway while Mark relayed every turn to him. Around fifteen minutes later, headlights shone onto Donghyuck’s drive. He squinted up at Mark, who was leaning out of his window looking like a certified teen movie-worthy boyfriend.

Mark’s soft smile betrayed his words. “Hey sweet thing. Wanna go for a ride?”

Donghyuck snorted but pushed to his feet nonetheless, stopping to press a kiss to Mark’s lips before walking around to the passenger side. As soon as Donghyuck got in the car, Mark dragged him in with a hand on the back of his neck, his mouth hot and aggressive against Donghyuck’s. “I missed you,” he breathed against Donghyuck’s skin when he stopped to leave kisses along his jawline.

Eventually, Donghyuck pressed his hand to Mark’s chest, and Mark pulled away. “As much as I think it’s cute that you’re this eager to shove your tongue down my throat, I’d rather not do this while we’re parked in my mom’s driveway.”

Still a little breathless, cheeks flushed a pretty rose color, Mark nodded. “Right. Got sidetracked.” He put the car back in drive and rolled back down Donghyuck’s street.

“Your house?” Donghyuck asked while he flipped through the cassette tapes Mark kept in the glovebox of his ancient car. He settled on a Buddy Holly tape that they’d listened to a hundred times and popped it in, anticipating the first notes of “Everyday.” He glanced up at Mark, who met his eyes at a stop sign and said, “I had something else in mind.

That something else turned out to be the NCT Elementary playground, where they’d met when Donghyuck was six and Mark seven. Mark parked in the east lot, the one closest to the playground, and unbuckled his seatbelt. He gave Donghyuck a reassuring look, which was all Donghyuck needed to toss his backpack into the backseat and hop out of the car.

It was still chilly outside, being early April. The breeze made Donghyuck press close to Mark’s side, trapping Mark’s arm between his and nuzzling Mark’s soft cotton hoodie. Instead of heading out to the swingsets, where Donghyuck had expected them to go, Mark led him straight toward the far end of the playground.

Donghyuck looked up at Mark, amused. “The Kissy Castle? Really?” He pulled one of his arms free and poked Mark’s side. “If you wanted to make out, you could’ve just said. But instead you wanna tarnish the sanctity of this playset.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Right, as if Jungwoo and Lucas didn’t already do that last year.”

“They’re sinners, Mark,” Donghyuck said conspiratorily, in the way he knew would make Mark laugh. His heart stuttered when he got the reaction he was waiting for, that endearing, full body laugh, and let Mark pull him up onto the castle’s stage. “You and I,” Donghyuck continued, mesmerized by the way Mark’s eyes crinkled, “we’re God’s pure, holy children.”

“Holy,” Mark repeated. He finally detached himself from Donghyuck’s side so they could face each other and took Donghyuck’s hands in his.

Mark looked at Donghyuck like he was something precious, otherworldly, celestial. It made Donghyuck wonder what he ever did to deserve Mark Lee.

“I love you,” Donghyuck whispered.

Mark leaned down and touched their foreheads together. “I love you, Donghyuck.” He let go of one of Donghyuck’s hands to move to his neck. Donghyuck melted into the touch, and as if sensing his tiredness, Mark pulled him into his chest, resting his chin on top of Donghyuck’s head.

Donghyuck thought he could fall asleep just like that, in Mark’s arms, soothed by the beating of Mark’s heart. Then, Mark’s hand left its spot in Donghyuck’s hair and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his phone. He clicked around for a second, then came the set of opening bars of a song he and Mark had danced to at Rollerama as preteens. At first, Mark only hummed along to the melody, maybe too embarrased. After the first few lines, however, he started murmuring the words into Donghyuck’s hair. “ _So won’t you please be my little baby_.”

The knowledge that everything was temporary, that in a short few months Mark would move to college without Donghyuck, made his chest and throat feel tight. He was beyond proud of Mark, who’d accomplished his high school goals and then some. He was off to the University of Michigan to study Linguistics and Spanish on a full scholarship. The only person who’d cried as hard as Mark when he opened his acceptance letter was Donghyuck, who’d watched his dorky, shy friend in elementary grow into a mature, bright, and even dorkier young adult. It almost felt like it was his acceptance letter as well, because Mark’s happiness was Donghyuck’s. Even so, Mark had been by Donghyuck’s side for eleven years of their lives, and Donghyuck couldn't remember what it was like to be without Mark. They’d become two stars in mutual orbit, seperate beings but inextricably drawn to one another.

It wasn’t until he sniffed and Mark moved back to look at him that he realized he’d been crying.

“Hyuck? What’s wrong?”

Donghyuck fisted his hands in Mark’s sweatshirt and blinked tears out of his eyes. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”

Mark frowned, and if snot weren’t trickling out of Donghyuck’s nose, he would’ve found the pout on Mark’s face cute. “I’m only gonna be a half hour’s drive away. You’ll be able to see me all the time.” A tear spilled out onto Donghyuck’s face, and Mark knelt down to kiss it away. In Mark’s pocket, the song ended, and a familiar song began to play. Mark sang along this time, his voice gentle.

“ _Tonight you’re mine completely_ …”

“You’re playing all my favorite songs,” Donghyuck commented while they swayed back and forth.

Mark rubbed little circles into the skin above Donghyuck’s hipbones and only hummed in affirmation.

At one point, after the song ended and they were half a minute into another Ronnettes song, Mark started giggling, which jostled Donghyuck’s head on his chest.

“What are you laughing about?” Donghyuck asked.

“Do you remember,” Mark said, already gazing down at Donghyuck when the younger boy looked up at him, “when you used to make me come up here with you and be your prop in all those skits you put on?”

Donghyuck smirked, recalling the time he’d bullied Mark into acting as a table. “Yeah. And the time you nearly beat up Jeno for offering to be my Prince Eric.”

“I didn’t,” Mark whined.

“Sure you didn’t,” Donghyuck said as he tugged on Mark’s ear. Mark just rolled his eyes.

(Neither of them mentioned the time at the beginning of Donghyuck’s sophomore year when Mark got upset because Donghyuck and Jeno were wearing matching costumes for Halloween — Ariel and Eric. Nor did they mention the way Mark grabbed Donghyuck’s hand and dragged him into Jaemin’s coat closet on the night of his Halloween party and asked Donghyuck if he could be the only prince in his castle. Donghyuck had laughed in his face and called him corny for confessing with a line so overwhelmingly sweet. Then, he’d pulled Mark in and let him taste the butterscotch candy on his lips.)

“While we’re talking about old memories,” Donghyuck said, “do you remember when you kissed Renjun at the top of the Kissy Castle and told him you’d wait for him when you moved to the middle school?”

“Why, do you want me to kiss you at the top of the castle and promise I’ll wait for you?”

Donghyuck clicked his tongue. “Nope. Obviously didn’t work out for you two, so why would I try a failed strategy? Then again, could any couple work out if I’m right there, single and open for the taking?”

Mark started to reply, but Donghyuck cut him off. “I don’t need you to promise you’ll wait for me, because we’ll still be together. We’ll still be us.” Donghyuck tried to swallow down the lump in his throat. “A lot is going to change in the next couple of years, and maybe it won’t work out. Maybe we’ll decide it’s not worth it, or maybe you’ll meet someone new—” Mark made a noise of protest at that and brought a small smile to Donghyuck’s lips, encouraging Donghyuck to cup Mark’s face in his hands “—maybe it isn’t meant to be. But I love you, and I’ll always love you, and I’m so immensely proud of you and no matter what happens, you’re still my best friend. For life.”

“Donghyuck,” Mark started.

“I actually had more to say, but you look like a mess so I thought I’d cut it short.” Donghyuck placed a chaste kiss on Mark’s cheek, then another on his lips. “Promise me one thing, okay? Promise we’ll always be best friends.”

Mark nodded, and a tear slipped onto his cheek. Donghyuck smiled and wiped it away. “Now you’re crying on me? You’re such a baby. Now say it back.”

Mark didn’t need to ask. “I love you, Hyuck.”

Satisfied and strangely reassured, Donghyuck tightened his hold on Mark again and buried his face back into his sweatshirt.

“Donghyuck,” Mark mumbled into his hair.

Donghyuck hummed. “Yeah?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to say your name.”

“Corny,” Donghyuck said, but he flexed his fingers around the back of Mark’s hoodie. “Mark?”

“Yeah?”

“You won’t stop listening to the Ronettes when you go away, will you?”

Mark let out a breathy laugh. “Of course not.”

Donghyuck made a noise of content. “I’m getting you a record player for your dorm. Adds to the vibe. Better than your Android.”

“You don’t need to buy me anything.”

Donghyuck pulled back to poke Mark’s chest and say, “It’s not just for you. It’s for me, too. Since I’ll be spending a lot of time there.” Donghyuck paused, doubt rising in his throat once again. “That’s okay, right?”

Mark’s hand calmed Donghyuck’s anxieties as it ran up and down his back. “Of course it is.”

“Okay, well, expect me. And probably Jeno. And Jisung. And the rest of our friends.”

Mark smiled. “What if I just want you?”

The low timbre of Mark’s voice made Donghyuck shiver, and he hoped Mark thought it was just from the cold. “Then you’ll have me.”

“Forever?”

“If you want.”

(When Jeno asked why Donghyuck was dead on his feet in Stats that morning, Donghyuck said it was because he was up late studying. It worked until Renjun appeared and asked Donghyuck if he knew why Mark wasn’t in first or second period. They thought his night had been much more scandalous than it actually had been and teased him for the rest of the day. Mark texted him around lunchtime, telling him to make sure to go to bed early that night.)


End file.
